Guard picks scalable servers
The National Guard recently chose servers to house the data for its nationwide distance-learning network. The Guard will install the 300-MHz Media Engine servers from Removable Media Solutions Inc. of Rancho Cordova, Calif., in Distributed Training Technology Project classrooms, at the network hub and at a hot site, said Lt. Col. Philip Vermeer, DTT product manager.
Sprint challenges DISA's choice of private ATM net
The Defense Information Systems Agency is committed to building a private asynchronous transfer mode backbone for the Defense Information Systems Network. But one major telecommunications carrier is trying to persuade DISA to use public ATM services to meet its DISN requirements. Sprint Corp. hired Data Systems Analysts Inc. of Fairfax, Va., to review the Defense Department's ATM security. The 82-page technical report challenges the DISA view that public ATM networks are more vulnerable to security threats
Navy buys 3Com switches to build IT-21 ATM backbones for East and West coasts
The Navy has ordered two networks from 3Com Corp. of Santa Clara, Calif., for its Information Technology for the 21st Century program. The ashore networks will create asynchronous transfer mode backbones for Navy organizations on the East and West coasts. The Navy's postgraduate school in Monterey, Calif., and the Naval Depot in Jacksonville, Fla., are each building networks using 3Com's CoreBuilder 7000HD ATM switch.
XML promises to transform government's use of the Web
Government information managers and commercial application developers alike are buzzing about the Extensible Markup Language, which tags nontext Web content for easier searching and delivery. "This is one of the rare technologies that all the big players, who tend to disagree on most everything else, are in favor of," said Charles F. Goldfarb, the Standard Generalized Markup Language's chief inventor. "XML is mass-market SGML."
Microsoft's specs development procedures cause DISA advisers to say no to DCOM
Microsoft Corp. operating systems may be low-cost and easy to use, but they fall short of Defense Department requirements for openness, said Terry Bollinger, principal information systems engineer for Mitre Corp. of Bedford, Mass. Bollinger, a technical adviser to the Defense Information Systems Agency, said Microsoft's closed procedures for developing technical specifications led him and other DOD technical advisers to recommend against deploying battlefield applications that rely on Microsoft's Distributed Component Object Model definitions.
NASA gives out high fives for software
Software that will remotely control International Space Station experiments via the Internet and improve air traffic control won NASA's 1998 Software of the Year awards. Tempest is an easy-to-install, fully documented program that lets users run experiments using standard Web browsers, NASA chief information officer Lee B. Holcomb said. A NASA study concluded Web remote-control applications will proliferate in the automotive, consumer electronics, office products and medical industries.
Lack of client management tools sinks Kayak XA-s
Pros and cons: + Great benchmark performance – No client management or other tools Average XA-s 400-MHz Kayak Pentium II Floating-point math 8.83 8.65 Integer math 16.08 16.02 2-D video 28.08 21.78 Small-file access 16.17 11.22 Large-file access 9.98 9.44 CD-ROM access 18.85 N/A 1.0=66MHz6 486 baseline
Leasing looks better and better for agencies
A decade ago, leasing was a popular way for the government to get computer hardware and software. In fact, people often forget that when computing was all mainframe host-and-terminal setups, processors were routinely leased with their operating systems. When, in the 1980s, IBM Corp. converted most of its leases to buys, it seemed to be the end of an era.
Web site designs get personal
Web site design has been largely an anything-goes affair. But Internet analysts predict that successful government Web sites of the future will give each visitor a personalized experience tailored to a specific need. "Catch-as-catch-can design, massive start-from-scratch overhauls, and a hodgepodge of features and information are no longer valid," said Paul R. Hagen, an Internet analyst at Forrester Research Inc. of Cambridge, Mass.
Division's IT leader manages on the go
Marine Online will let users handle administrative tasks through the Web and e-mail. ARLINGTON, Va.—Just try catching up with Maj. Darrell Philpot. If you're lucky, you'll find him at one of several office phone numbers. If not, ring his cell phone. Or try e-mail. Philpot, director of the information technology Branch of the Marines' Manpower and Reserve Affairs Information Systems Division, is perpetually on the move, a roving cyclone of energy
Treasury CIO sets sights on EC, online apps
Smart cards and digital signatures will secure Treasury's online business transactions, department CIO James Flyzik says. The Treasury Department wants to eventually conduct the bulk of its business online, its chief information officer said. "From Treasury as a whole, electronic commerce is something we're going to take a serious look at,'' Treasury CIO James Flyzik said last month. Flyzik moderated a roundtable of Treasury CIOs who outlined their information technology plans
Agencies automate libraries
Library automation systems have turned into enterprise systems as the need to share information outweighs the desire for autonomy, according to library industry executive Bob Humphrey. "Every little library used to do its own thing," especially Defense Department libraries, he said. But large library system procurements are becoming a trend. Government libraries "tend to gang up, even though they're all buying out of separate funds," Humphrey said.
Companies add spice to network management tools
"Network management is more than mapping and monitoring drives." Network management browsers are taking off in new directions. Loran Technologies Inc. of Vienna, Va., dubs its Kinnetics Network Manager a server-mounted appliance that plugs into a network and maps and manages its devices. The product marks a shift by Canadian parent company Loran International Technologies Inc. away from hardware to software.
USGS online database pinpoints Antarctica geographic coordinates
Where in the world is Terror Glacier? How high is Zurn Peak? The answers can be found on the new Antarctica Geographic Names Database created for the Geological Survey. "The availability of official geographic names and associated information for Antarctica from a Web site is of major significance to the scientific community, as well as to the growing tourist industry," said Roger Payne, executive secretary of the U.S. Board on Geographic Names.
How easy-to-use are online-buying sites?
Contracting officials focus on price, configuration before buying online Does how you buy make much difference in what you buy? If it doesn't yet, it will. The relatively recent advent of Web commerce and the ability to buy General Services Administration products online has changed the landscape of government purchasing.
Navy eyes paperless purchasing process
"Knowing that I work for SPAWAR, I always look forward to going to work," Adriano said." SAN DIEGO—In June, the Navy ended a 60-year tradition by saying bell-bottom trousers for on-deck uniforms were out. In less than 60 days, another Navy tradition will tumble, as paper-based procurement processes give way to electronic trials.
PROFESSIONAL CALENDAR
24-26 Foundations of Intrusion Detection Seminar. Washington. Contact the System Administration, Networking and Security Institute, 5401 Westbard Ave., Suite 802, Bethesda, Md. 20816; tel. 301-951-0140. 30-Sept. 2 Government Cost Managers '98 Conference. Washington. Contact the International Institute of Business Technologies, P.O. Box 65771, Washington, D.C. 20035; tel. 888-832-4428.
CDC asks Missouri to pilot inoculation-tracing net
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta could model a national immunization network after Missouri's growing inoculation-tracking system. CDC recently gave Missouri a three-year grant worth $660,000 a year to create the system, which centralizes inoculation and other health records. Depending on how well the Missouri system works, CDC might use it as part of a federal blueprint for a chain of immunization databases nationwide.
PTO upgrades systems to store patent data online
The Patent and Trademark Office has 27 terabytes of online storage and will keep adding more until it hits 35 terabytes, said A.K. Borough, the deputy chief information officer and director of technical support services. PTO plans to publish 20 million pages of patent and trademark information on the Web, beginning this month.
News Roundup
The Air Force's Human Systems Center has awarded Booz, Allen & Hamilton Inc. a 10-year, $350 million contract to build the U.S. Transportation Command's Regulating and Command and Control Evacuation System. Through the TRAC2ES project, the center at Brooks Air Force Base, Texas, wants the McLean, Va., company to design a system that will let commanders make transportation, logistics and medical decisions.
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